52 Books in 52 Weeks: 2012 Wrap Up Post

Hosted by Robin from My Two Blessings

Robin is asking us to put together an end-of-year post for our 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge.  She has asked us the questions below.  To see the books I specifically read for this challenge, please go HERE.

1) How many books did you read this year? So far: 160.  But I'll be reading right up until the 31st.

2) Did you meet or beat your own personal goal?  My top goal was 150 for a 150+ Reading Challenge.  So, yes, I beat it.

3) Favorite book of 2012? (You can list more than one or break it down by genre): Here are my top reads of the year (all 5-star books)...
 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy by Terry Lee Rioux
Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas 
Titanic 2012 by Bill Walker

4) Least favorite book of 2012 and why?  
Nantucket Soap Opera by S. F. X. Dean  [except from the review: This is a story that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. At times comic, at times philosophical, at times drop-dead boring narration. There is way more gratuitous sexual references than necessary (if any can be said to be necessary). Dean's narrative style roams from straight-up story-telling to weird little cameo sketches of various characters. I never really connected with the people involved and I didn't much care about the story--and I darn well didn't care about every male character's sexual fantasies and who they first made it with (and that was rarely important to the plot).]

5) One book you thought you'd never read and was pleasantly surprised you like it?
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens  [Although, I did have it on my long TBR list, so it wasn't exactly that I thought I'd never read it.  I just didn't think I'd like it.  I tried it once before and just couldn't finish it.]
6) One book you thought you'd love but didn't?
The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom [I loved Frank Herbert's Dune series and The White Plague.  But I could not get into this one at all....] 


7) One book that touched you - made you laugh, cry, sing or dance.  
The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Onon no Komachi & Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan trans by Jane Hirshfield w/Mariko Aratan 

8) Any new to you authors discovered and you can't wait to read more of their stories?  Adam McOmber (He's not really new to me.  He was a creative writing student in the English Department where I work.  I just never read anything by him until this year.  His The White Forest is very good!)
9) Name the longest book you read?  Shortest? 
Longest: 11/22/63 by Stephen King [849 pages]
Shortest: Ahmed & the Oblivion Machines by Ray Bradbury [64 pages]

10) Name the most unputdownable book you read?
Nine Man's Murder by Eric Keith [I read that one straight through.]

11) Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?  ???? I really don't know.  I don't think I read any that I'd say made an impact.  Lots of entertaining and interesting reads.

12) What book would you recommend everybody read?

The White Forest by Adam McOmber


13) Share your most favorite cover(s):  I don't really latch onto covers.....

14) Do you have a character you fell in love with?  Not really.

15) What was your most favorite part of the challenge? Did you do any of the mini challenges?  It was a good way to make sure I read at least one book a week (although I try to have my numbers higher than that....).  No mini-challenges (but I could have claimed the A-Z--I did both a title A-Z Challenge and a Mystery Author A-Z Challenge).
What are your goals for the new year?  To read more non fiction? To dip your toes into a mystery or a urban fantasy?  What book are you most looking forward to reading in 2013?  
My plan, like last year, is to read mainly from my TBR mountain range.  I've got about 500-600 books stacked here and there that I really need to read.  The book I'm most looking forward to is Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran--a gift from my blogging Secret Santa.

Thanks for hosting this challenge!  I had a great time.